The National Magazine Company, commonly known as “Natmags”, is one of the UK’s largest magazine distributors, publishing twenty mainstream titles including Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Harper’s Bazaar. The company has been operating for over 100 years and has a readership of over 14 million across all titles.

Ecometrica has been working with Natmags to monitor their emissions profile since 2008. During this time, Natmags has seen its overall emissions reduce consistently every year due to undertaking formal carbon accounting on a recurring basis, generating reduction plans and taking action – specifically taking steps to reduce their electricity, landfilled waste, air travel and hotel stays.

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Ecometrica has worked with RSA for the last three years, having been engaged to carry out GHG calculations for their inventory and assist with CDP submissions. This year we were pleased to use the Our Impacts web-based GHG accounting solution to complete RSA’s CDP submission because we were convinced it would save time and improve accuracy. You can read RSA’s full Corporate Responsibility Report online, featuring expert comment from Ecometrica Senior Analyst, Charlotte Wylie.

Petkim Petrochemical Holding A.S. is the largest petrochemical complex in Turkey with 14 plants and 17 product lines with 7 auxiliary plants. The company’s share in the domestic market is more than 25% and it competes with Chevron and ExxonMobil internationally. The petrochemicals sector is amongst the most energy-intensive sectors, with up to 70% of the total energy cost coming from production.

In partnership with Gaia Carbon Management, Ecometrica implemented the Our Impacts platform to measure, calculate and report Petkim’s 2009 GHG emissions for disclosure to the CDP in May 2010.

Greenergy International Ltd. is a London-based fuel company that supplies around one-fifth of the UK’s road fuel, as well as being the country’s principal supplier of biofuel.

In June 2010, Ecometrica worked with Greenergy to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their operations for the financial year 2009/10. The entire process took only three weeks.

We undertook pro bono work for the Child Future Africa Foundation to map recent agricultural expansion on their Mount Darwin Orpharm, which provides a family home combined with agricultural activity to a number of HIV/Aids orphans. We used a very high resolution panchromatic satellite image from the WorldView-1 satellite to produce a map that clearly shows the recent addition of new agricultural fields. This map will assist the CFA Foundation with fundraising activities for further non-profit improvement and expansion of the orphanage. The satellite data was kindly donated by European Space Imaging through Infoterra.

In 2008, BP undertook a project to allow their customers and website visitors to accurately account for their energy and carbon footprint, both now and in the future. The project formed part of BP’s vision of a lower energy and carbon future by allowing consumers to understand their environmental impacts.

From this brief, Ecometrica supported the technical development of the calculation algorithms, data models and emissions factors used to create the BP Energy Lab.

BioCarbon Tracker uses satellite data and advanced methods to map the ecosystems where biocarbon is stored, identify vegetation at risk from land use change and monitor where high biocarbon stock land such as forest is converted to agriculture.

Greenergy used Ecometrica’s expertise in land use and remote sensing, combined with our advanced web mapping technology to deliver BioCarbon Tracker. Ecometrica developed data layers within BioCarbon Tracker with help from researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

Speaking on the project, Ecometrica senior analyst Dr Nicholas Berry said, “BioCarbon Tracker is an innovative tool that should support decision making by firms within agricultural supply chains, by investors and by policy makers”.

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As part of a consortium led by WCS and funded by the Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation research programme (NERC/ESRC/DFID), we are working to develop a grant proposal to generate new data and understanding, as well as build developing country capacity to design and implement policy relevant research on the impact of climate change on ecosystem services and rural livelihoods. We are working with partners in Tanzania, Rwanda, Brazil and Bolivia to prepare a research consortium grant proposal to explore the potential use of systems dynamic models of climate, ecosystem services and rural livelihoods, combined with participatory assessments of governance options, across a range of spatial and political scales.

A part of a consortium led by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and funded by the Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation research programme (NERC/ESRC/DFID), we are embarking upon a piece of work aimed at poverty alleviation through sustainable use of biomass energy. The overarching objective of this work is to develop a world class interdisciplinary North-South-South research partnership and strategy that reshapes the impact of a predicted large-scale expansion in global biomass energy use on poverty and ecosystem services in developing countries. The consortium also includes Practical Action, Rothamstead Research, the University of East Anglia (UEA), Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and Bioclimate Research and Development. Research, chosen on account of current energy-forest pressure, will be focused in India, Kenya and Malawi.

We are contributing to a research project working on the development of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) projects in Malawi, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, Mzuzu University, LTS International, the Plan Vivo Foundation and the Government of Malawi Department of Forestry, and funded by the Waterloo Foundation. The aim of the research is to establish the best means of combining remote sensing with community-based management to support sustainable forest use in Malawi. The intention is to make a real improvement on the way in which the forests are managed and used in Malawi.

Working for a leading biofuels producer to assist in the development of effective processes and tools for monitoring land use change in areas under their stewardship and influence. This project involved the identification and mapping of ecosystems in and around current and potential biofuel production areas, defining historic land-use and ecosystem change prior to biofuel feedstock production, streamlining processes for identifying areas of ecosystem conservation, restoration and management within and around production areas, and monitoring of changes to productive and natural ecosystems since production started. The first phase of this work was conducted in the Goias state, Brazil.

Working with Imperial College London, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Forest Research, and Aberdeen University to investigate the mitigation potential from biofuels and bioenergy, avoided deforestation, and afforestation/reforestation. Ecometrica assessed the economic, social and environmental impacts of avoided deforestation, and compiled a number of case studies to identify real-world constraints to achieving the technically available mitigation potential. This was a two year research project funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The Norway International Climate and Forest Initiative has committed up to $500 million a year to support efforts that reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in developing countries. The real-time evaluation commissioned by the Evaluation Department of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) will assess progress and provide advice to assist in the achievement of the following objectives: (i) the inclusion of REDD in a new international climate regime; (ii) early action to achieve cost-effective and verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and (ii) the conservation of natural forests to maintain their carbon storage capacity. Ecometrica are working in partnership with LTS International, Indufor, and the Chr. Michelsen Institute on the evaluation.

Ecometrica conducted a feasibility assessment investigating the potential of developing small-holder forest carbon projects in around 37,500 hectares of land in coffee growing regions of Uganda. Proposed carbon projects would aim to encourage around 5,000 coffee farmers in each of the target regions to establish agroforestry plantations in existing coffee growing land through planting shade trees. This report was to assess the potential, eligibility and basic feasibility of these carbon projects, through the establishment of agroforestry systems including shade coffee, and boundary planting.

Historical and current satellite images were used to provide a history of land cover changes in a forest reserve in Ghana since 1989 for a client investigating the investment potential under REDD. Since associated estimates in biomass change over time were needed, a rapid assessment was made by using IPCC default values and literature review. To provide additional information on threats to the forest area, a fire history was compiled for the area using a satellite-derived fire hotspot detection database service available from NASA.

In collaboration with the Universities of Napier, Bangor and Edinburgh in the UK and the Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Ecometrica was involved in the training of three KMFRI employees from Kenya in Edinburgh, in mapping using remote sensing, GIS and stakeholder participation. We also carried out a 5 day training course for 17 individuals with participants from Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. Ecometrica’s role was to provide the CAMARV project team with the technical requirements necessary for developing PES projects, including appropriate facilitation and field techniques. The project aims to build sustainable networks between Northern and Southern institutions for the management of natural resources to support Ecosystem Services and contribute to the alleviation of poverty. The overall aim of the project is to develop the tools, datasets and network needed to alleviate pressure on mangroves through payments for ecosystem services in East Africa.

Working with the Malawi, Environmental, Endowment Trust (MEET), and Bioclimate Research and Development, on a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). We developed a participatory process for Monitoring Assessment and Verification of ecosystem service benefits from Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects in national parks and forest reserves in Malawi, in collaboration with technical staff from Forest Research Insititue of Malawi (FRIM), LEAD, and the Government of Malawi Department of Forestry. We trained local technical staff and community field workers in mapping, forest survey, and participatory approaches to defining REDD baselines, and estimating project effectiveness; and produced methodologies, technical papers, and contributions to project design documents for submission to the Plan Vivo Foundation.

Working with the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement, Cameroon (CED), and Bioclimate Research and Development, UK, on a project commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to assess the feasibility of developing Payments for Ecosystem Service (PES) projects at three sites in Cameroon. We developed an assessment framework and carried out an assessment of the potential for forest carbon project development. The assessment was used by WWF to determine priority sites for project development.

In 2009 Ecometrica worked with Royal Mail to revise an existing carbon calculator, used internally by the Royal Mail sales team, to demonstrate to clients the greenhouse gas emissions and waste saving benefits of the Sustainable® Mail initiative. Royal Mail’s Sustainable® Mail initiative is designed to offer guidance to customers on how to prepare their mail to have the least environmental impact and is aligned to PAS 2020 standard.